02/07/2026
Johannesburg is a city of contradictions. It frustrates you. It surprises you. It breaks your heart, then somehow convinces you to stay.
I Love You I Hate You, a book by Love Jozi, edited by Laurice Taitz-Buntman, founder of Johannesburg in Your Pocket, captures that complicated relationship through a collection of deeply personal essays and the visual history of the city.
Inspired by Love Jozi's iconic T-shirt designs and archive, each essayist was invited to respond to a different range, resulting in stories that reveal pieces of Johannesburg's soul. Together they wander through its contradictions: the forests planted to soften a harsh landscape, Chinatowns built through hustle, nights that danced through political upheaval, journeys of survival, and childhood memories shaped by a city that's never easy to explain.
Join us at Keyes Art Night for an evening inspired by the book. In partnership with Johannesburg In Your Pocket City Guide and Open Window and in collaboration with Joburg Photowalkers and Love Jozi. Jane Celliers invites you to create your own mini zine using writing, drawing and collage. Pick up a pre-folded zine, explore a tactile library of Johannesburg-inspired materials, and make something honest about this city. Love it, hate it, or both. There are no rules.
📩 One participant will win a copy of I Love You I Hate You. The winner will be announced via Instagram and must collect their prize from MESH. If you're coming to comment below with one word that describes how you feel about Joburg right now, love it or hate it. The winner will be chosen tonight.
Featuring essays by Lerato Tshabalala, Mark Gevisser, Milisuthando Bongela, Aspasia Karras, Alphonse Nahimana, Matthew Krouse, and the late Ufrieda Ho, whose voices together capture the many ways Johannesburg is experienced, remembered and imagined.
Lerato Tshabalala
